Investment Readiness

Lancashire’s investment programme is a coherent, structured programme of investor-led input, investment readiness guidance and support activities, where the objective is to support potentially high growth in Lancashire. The programme is free to Lancashire based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as it is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Who is it for?

The Lancashire based SMEs we work with are looking to become investment ready. Investment Readiness will help businesses with everything from knowing how much investment they need to how to best pitch their ideas to gain investment. To be eligible your business or new business idea must:

Be based in Lancashire

Employ fewer than 250 full time people

Have an annual turnover of less than £40 million and/or an annual balance sheet total of less than £35 million

Have received less than €200,000 of publicly funded support in the last three fiscal years.

What will this involve?

The programme and assistance from Investment Readiness will be valuable to any eligible business, as an investment ready business is a much stronger business than one that is not investment ready. Getting funds from business angels and venture capitalists is a sales process and the seminars in the programme will make sure businesses are well equipped to clearly present their proposition and demonstrate that they have a credible plan to deliver the results that will impress investors.

There are 3 main sections to the programme:

Introduction to equity investment and venture capital

Planning your approach to raising investment

One-to-one and group pitch coaching and development sessions

Come along to our group introductory workshop where you will benefit from:

An overview of private and institutional investors and their investment processes

What investors are looking for and what they are not looking for

The importance of your investment pitch

External contributors who have recent experience of successfully raising investment.

How will it benefit my business?

The free programme will have regional impact by significantly improving the opportunity of gaining external investment for high growth SMEs and university spin-outs that undertake the programme; this will improve the conversion rate from business plan submission to investment.

The programme will assist SMEs to be equipped to engage with equity investors, increasing their knowledge and understanding of risk capital.

The Investment Readiness team will perform an objective assessment of business plans and give feedback. This will enable businesses to demonstrate their full potential to prospective investors.